


And Nothing But The Truth

by Chrystie, kate882



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Magic, truth spell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 03:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17236241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: “I’m not deciding to tell you that. And if you do start asking me personal questions I’ll-“ the words cut off and he frowned. He opened his mouth like he was going to try again, but still nothing except a frustrated “god damnit,” after a few seconds.“Jay,” Dick smiled, “Is it possible that your threat is a lie,” he dramatically gasped, putting a hand to his chest.





	And Nothing But The Truth

Finding Jason laid out on a rooftop was not how Dick planned to end his night. There wasn’t any blood he could see, but Jason definitely wasn’t conscious if the lack of response to Dick poking at him was anything to go by.

Dick was between hauling him back to his apartment to make sure he was actually okay or just laying down next to him and waiting for him to wake up. He figured it was probably smarter to take him home, maybe also check if he had a head wound under the helmet. Crouching down next to him, he did his best to throw Jason over his shoulder, and boy was he heavier than Dick had anticipated when he impulsively decided that was the way to carry him.

After a very unsteady and slow swing home, Dick tried his best to not to just drop Jason onto his bed. He could feel that a lot of that weight he hadn’t been expecting was also weapons. Despite that, the harder part was still figuring out how to remove Jason’s helmet because, unlike a normal person who used tasers, Jason decided he’d prefer to wear a bomb over his face if someone tried to take it off.

When he finally did get the helmet off without blowing them both up, and he was sure that now that he’d figured it out Jason would change it, Jason still appeared unharmed. Other than some bruising, but that looked like it could have just come from hitting the ground.

He was about to do a blood test to see if Jason had been poisoned when he finally seemed to come to, stirring with a quite groan. “Where the fuck am I?” He mumbled into Dick’s blanket.

“My place, you feeling okay?”

“No. I feel like I got hit by a truck,” he answered, still not sounding totally awake.

“What happened to you?” Dick was already reaching for the painkillers he kept in his room.

“Pissed off a witch. She hit me with a…” Jason’s brow furrowed as he became more aware and tried to put his thoughts together, “a truth spell I think, but I didn’t know those could be painful.” And then the words out of his mouth seemed to catch up with his brain and he was suddenly wide awake, and sitting up despite it looking painful if the tightness to his jaw and the way he was clenching his fists was anything to go by. “Shit. She hit me with a fucking truth spell.”

Dick was by his side in an instant. “A truth spell, you say?”

Jason’s attention snapped over to him and the lenses on his mask narrowed. “I did say that,” he grit out like the words were being forced from his throat. They quite possibly were, but it wasn’t easy to tell when that’s how Jason typically delivered information he didn’t want to share.

“Oho,” As tempting as it was, and Dick was very tempted, he was going to do the right thing. “I’ll try not to take too much advantage while it’s working. I’ll even do you a favor and keep Timmy away from you.”

“Fuck that. I’m staying away from all of you,” he got to his feet, swaying a bit like he might fall back onto the bed.

“Not like this, you’re not. C’mon, I have painkillers for you,” Dick shook the bottle.

Jason looked between the bottle and Dick, but finally relented and took it from him, downing two of the pills without any water. Which was more revealing than any truth spell really, because Jason rarely took any form of medical help from any of the bats willingly, especially not the kind that had to be ingested.  

“That spell really hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” Jason practically spat out the word. “Stop asking me questions,” he added, and some of the venom to the words was lost when he did end up falling back onto Dick’s bed with a pained sound.

“Sorry, sorry, but I’m not even asking anything personal, it can’t suck that much just to tell me if you’re in pain or not.”

“I’m not deciding to tell you that. And if you do start asking me personal questions I’ll-“ the words cut off and he frowned. He opened his mouth like he was going to try again, but still nothing except a frustrated “god damnit,” after a few seconds.

“Jay,” Dick smiled, “Is it possible that your threat is a lie,” he dramatically gasped, putting a hand to his chest.

Jason bit his lower lip, clearly fighting back an answer, but one forced its way out anyway. “...I wouldn’t …. actually kill you. Anymore.”

“Glad to hear it, considering I don’t think we’re even on bad terms anymore. At least, I hope we’re not.” Dick was absolutely loving this, and he was sure he wasn’t doing a good job of keeping that off of his face.

“We might be if you keep pushing it,” Jason informed him.

“Aw c’mon, Jay. I’m trying to stay harmless.” Because everyone had at least a few things they’d always wanted to ask Jason, that included himself, but he was going to be a respectful human being and not take advantage of Jason like this. Too much. Probably. He was still a bat after all.

Jason didn’t look convinced, but it also looked like the pain meds were kicking in, because his body was slowly relaxing into the bed. “You’re trying for now,” he muttered.

“And I’ll keep trying. You can’t tell me that if things were reversed, you wouldn’t be at least a little tempted to ask me a few things.”

“Not really, no. Anything I’d ask you would give too much about myself away, and you’d probably freely answer most things I could ask you.” He sounded like he was drifting back towards sleep as he spoke. He really probably shouldn’t have taken more than one of the pills Dick offered him, but he also probably needed the rest.

“You and your secrets,” Dick sighed, tucking Jason in. “Good night, Jay.”

“It’s definitely not a good night,” he grumbled.

“It is for me.” But any night Dick got to see Jason was usually considered a good night, especially when it didn’t involve fighting Jason.

Jason didn’t respond this time, apparently too far out of it.

With a small smile, Dick gently brushed Jason’s bangs out of his eyes. Looked like he was sleeping on the couch tonight, not that he minded. Hopefully Jason felt better in the morning.

* * *

He woke up to the sound of Jason going through his stuff the next morning, so he must be feeling better if he had the energy to get out of bed.

“Whatcha doing?” Dick muttered into his couch cushion.

“Stealing your clothes. I figure you don’t want Red Hood to be seen leaving Dick Grayson’s apartment in broad daylight.”

“Not staying for breakfast?” Dick sat up with a yawn and a stretch, “It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

“I wasn’t planning to. Do you even have breakfast stuff in your kitchen?”

“Toaster waffles and bacon,” Because Dick recently learned that bacon was hard to mess up, even for him. “How you feeling?”

“In significantly less pain than last night, but still unable to tell you I’m totally fine.” Jason emerged from his room, wearing a pair of Dick’s sweatpants and one of his hoodies. He’d also taken a duffle bag, which Dick assumed he was keeping his Red Hood gear in.

“You sure you can’t stay for just a little while?” It was always disappointing saying goodbye to Jason because once he left, he usually managed to stay out of contact for at least a few months.

Jason shot him a look even as the words started leaving him without his permission. “I could stay. I don’t have anything planned. But you keep asking me questions and so I’m choosing to leave until I figure out how to get rid of this spell.”

“You really hate this.” It wasn’t a question, it was obvious. “Stay for a bit? We’ll talk about something other than you, maybe also figure out a way to ask for Zatanna’s help without Bruce figuring it out.”

“If Bruce finds out I will break his jaw to keep him from being able to ask me anything. Maybe his hands too so he can’t sign anything at me.” Apparently he could still threaten Bruce with no trouble even though he hadn’t been able to do it to Dick the night before. Although coming from Jason, being ranked higher than Bruce wasn’t a very high bar to meet. At least he hadn’t said he’d kill Bruce.

“So,” Dick shot up, pulling lightly at Jason’s-his, really- duffel bag, “Breakfast and call Zatanna?”

“... I don’t know about calling Zatanna yet,” he relented, but put his bag down.

Dick practically beamed at him with a smile. “Then we can wait on that. Who knows, maybe it’s the type of spell that wears off.”

“It’s not,” Jason muttered, going to Dick’s kitchen and starting up a pot of coffee.

That definitely sounded like Jason wasn’t telling him something. “Why does it sound like you know more about this spell than I thought?”

Jason glared at him, fists clenching at his sides. “Because the witch bitch told me how to break it, and I need to find another way.”

Dick looked him up and down and he knew how much Jason would hate telling him what the witch did to him, but still, “Is it morbidly embarrassing or just morbid?”

“The first one,” Jason grit out, abandoning the coffee and going for his bag like he was planning to leave again.

“Okay, I’ll stop,” Dick practically chased after him. “I won’t ask how or what.” Dick was tempted, but he wouldn’t, even if he did think that just suffering the embarrassment would be better than suffering the spell.

“Either way I should just go somewhere where there aren’t any people to ask me anything until I can figure this out.”

“After breakfast?” Dick put on a hopeful smile while trying his best not to pout.

Jason continued to glare at him, but did eventually go back to the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup.

Dick resisted the urge to fist pump or anything equally as embarrassing and instead pulled out the toaster waffles from the freezer.

“I don’t think you get how serious this spell is,” Jason finally informed him while the waffles were toasting. “That or you’re not taking it as seriously as you should, since you keep asking me shit. You understand that I know a lot of dangerous stuff, right? I know launch codes to weapons that could destroy entire continents. I know the secret identity to almost every superhero and villain, including yours, Boy Wonder. I know weaknesses to almost every major crime lord currently in power. I know secrets held by the League of Assassins. And if anyone asks me I have to tell them. So you can’t just go telling people. That includes Zatanna if you’re not sure she can’t find out without other people finding out. It’s not just an inconvenient or annoying spell, it’s dangerous.”

“Maybe, but I know you,” Dick shrugged, “You’re too careful to even give anyone the chance to ask you anything that could be that dangerous. If it were anyone other than me who found you, they wouldn’t have been able to say a single word to you from the minute you woke up.”

“Only if I have the opportunity to stop them first,” Jason says, looking mildly flustered by Dick’s words but still overall distressed.

“Don’t say that like catching you off guard isn’t a rare thing, because it absolutely is.”

“The witch managed to,” he pointed out flatly.

“Which only means you’re going to be extra cautious now. Jay, I know the spell puts us in danger, but right now you’re safe, and if you don’t want to break it the way you already know how, then Zatanna is our best bet, and if you don’t want that either then we’ll figure something out, we always do.”

“I only don’t want Zatanna’s help if she carries a risk of other people, like Bruce, finding out about it.”

“It does make it hard to ask for her help with her being Bruce’s friend,” Dick agreed.

“Then she’s out. I don’t want him to know.”

“Then we’ll figure something out.”

“You don’t have to be involved in finding another option.”

“Yeah, but I want to help.”

“I know that. You always want to help. But I don’t-“ he frowned, clearly caught on telling Dick he didn’t need his help, which was weird considering Jason just said Dick didn’t need to be involved. Maybe it was a phrasing thing.

“We can start by finding out more about that witch you pissed off after some food.”

Jason glared a bit, but it wasn’t like he could actually tell Dick he didn’t need him right now, so he begrudgingly left it be for the moment, since the waffles were all done.

Dick waited until they both had a plate and his was coated liberally in maple syrup to ask. “Is the way she gave you to break the spell really that bad?”

“Yes. She wouldn’t make it pleasant when she’s pissed at me, would she?”

“But it’s not going to kill anyone,” Dick didn’t think it would, but knowing Jason . . . “Would it?”

Jason seemed to have to think this one over to figure out what the truth of it even was. “Probably not. Definitely not directly.”

Dick stared at him blankly and rephrased his question. “Would _you_ kill someone over it?”

Jason just shrugged at that one. “The witch, probably.” He tilted his head. “Do you think that would work? End the spell if the castor is dead?”

“I’m going to go with no. Putting aside the regular lecture, because I’m not Bruce, if you kill her and it doesn’t go away then you also lose the main source of knowledge.”

“Like she’d tell me shit anyway,” Jason rolled his eyes, taking an annoyed bite from his plain waffle.

“You never know.”

“Dickie, you’re not really the torture type. I imagine if I demanded she just lift the spell, without violent persuasion, she’d tell me to go fuck myself and that she already gave me an out. And quite possibly make the spell worse or add another one. So I can say with a decent amount of certainty that I do know.”

“I’m still going to say killing her probably won’t do much.”

“Magic isn’t the kind of supernatural shit I deal with on the regular, so I suppose you’d know that better than me.”

“Well it’s not my specialty either, which is why I keep wondering if the way out is really that bad, but it’s not my punishment so.”

Jason leveled him with a displeased look. “Confess my biggest secret to the person I want to know it the least. That’s how I break it. If you ask me what it is, you’ll be missing several teeth.”

Well, Dick could see how that would be both unpleasant and unwanted, especially to Jason, who hated sharing anything about himself. “So what was the witch’s name?”

“I don’t know? I think it started with an A or something.”

How did anyone meet a witch and not figure out their name? Most announced it along with how they were going to curse people. “How exactly did you piss off this witch?”

Jason’s jaw was tight as he clearly tried to hold back the answer, but the spell wasn’t letting him. “Hooked up with her. Gave her a fake name, and when she insisted on giving me her number I said I’d call. And I didn’t. So when she tracked me down yesterday she spelled me for being a dick. Don’t even know how she knew it was me with the helmet on. Probably more magic bullshit.”

Dick tried to not laugh, he did, but how could he not? “And I thought I had some bad hookups,” he snickered.

Jason threw a spoon, hard, at Dick’s forehead. He supposed he should count himself lucky it wasn’t a fork or a knife. “Fuck off.”

“You can’t say it’s not funny when it’s not you.”

“I can’t say a lot of things right now.”

“Alright,” Dick shoved the last piece of maple goodness into his mouth, “Let’s learn about truth spells.”

“Do you even have anything here to learn about them with?”

“I’ve collected a few books over the years. Felt kind of dumb not to given what can come up, not sure if they’ll have exactly what we need.”

“It’s a starting place, I guess.” Jason finished off the last of his waffles and took the plate and cup to the sink. “I should text Roy and Kori, they’re probably wondering where I am,” he muttered, more to himself than to Dick, as he walked over to the duffle bag he’d stolen from Dick and dug out a phone, but Dick still heard. And Jason even being on texting terms with them, or anyone for that matter, was news to him.

“You talk to them?” It’d been a while since he’d heard from either of them, kind of like how it had been a while since he’d seen Jason.

“Would be hard not to since I live with them,” Jason answered as he typed out a quick text.

“You… huh. They’re both doing okay?”

“They’re pretty good right now, actually.” Jason’s phone buzzed a few times- who even would have guessed that Jason owned a phone- and he assumed it was Roy and Kori texting him back.

“That’s good, I’m glad to hear that.” And he was. As weird as it was to think of the three knowing each other well enough to live with each other, he was glad that they were all doing fine.

Jason rolled his eyes at whatever they’d sent him, but there was a fond smile tugging at his lips that Dick very rarely got to see on Jason. The phone buzzed again and he glanced up at Dick. “Kori says to tell you hello for her.” Another buzz. “And Roy sent a peace sign emoji, which I think is a hello from him as well.”

“Tell them I miss them.”

“I sure won’t. That’s way too touchy feely and will lead to more responses, and I don’t want to play messenger while you three catch up. We have studying to do. Tell them yourself.”

“Touchy feely isn’t always bad.” Dick went over to pull a few books from his bookshelf nonetheless.

Jason slid his phone into the pocket of Dick’s sweatpants, which Dick was pretty sure he wasn’t getting back. “That doesn’t mean I want to be the messenger passing it along.”

“Alright, I guess we better get reading.”

Jason made it through about a book and a half before he started drifting. He probably still had some of the pain medication in him. If Dick had taken two of those pills he’d probably still be out cold considering how late they’d gotten in.

And after a few more pages that Dick was pretty sure Jason wasn’t actually reading he finally let his eyes just close. Dick kept going for a few minutes, not wanting to risk waking him, and then there was a weight on his shoulder and Jason’s head was there.

Dick kept reading but was careful not to shift too much to not wake Jason. He might’ve snuck in a glance or two, or several, at Jason’s peaceful expression, but no one but him needed to know that.

Jason slept for about two hours on Dick’s shoulder, before he started to wake up again, looking confused for a moment before a pink blush covered his cheeks and he moved away quickly. “Why didn’t you wake me up? What time is it?”

“You looked tired and everyone deserves a good nap. It’s only about noon.” Dick felt a small niggling of disappointment at the loss of Jason’s warmth.

Jason gaped at him, the blush fading but still tinting his cheeks a light pink color. Jason could be so cute sometimes; not that Dick thought Jason would want to hear that. “You let me sleep on you for two hours?”

“Yeah? It wasn’t like I was uncomfortable or anything.”

Jason still looked a little flustered, but just muttered a “Whatever” and picked up the book he’d dropped. “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing that we didn’t already know. She gave you an out, you have to use it if you want to uncurse yourself.”

“Absolutely not,” Jason answered flatly. “There’s got to be a loophole.”

“You must really not want Bruce to know whatever it is about you that you’re hiding,” Because who else could it be? Jason specifically didn’t want Bruce to know about the spell.

“What?” Jason blinked at him and then seemed to catch up. “Oh. Yeah, I mean, of course I don’t want him to know. I don’t even like talking to him.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda what I figured.”

Jason shrugged and started flipping through the book again. “There’s gotta be something in here.”

“Not that I could find, but you can keep searching.”

“There’s more books on magic than just what you own, Dickie. I’m not giving up that quickly.”

“Of course, but we still have to avoid using the books from the manor, right?” Which did make things a little harder.

“Of course. Do you honestly think Bruce wouldn’t instantly start interrogating me if I showed up looking for books on truth spells?” Jason countered.

“Oh he absolutely would.”

“So we can’t go to the manor or let him know about this. I’ve got a lot of shit he doesn’t need to know about, and he thinks everyone else’s business is his business.” He settled more into the couch, staring up at the ceiling, clearly thinking through something. “We could go when he’s not there? If we just take a bunch of books on magic, not specifically ones with information about truth spells, he won’t know why we’re looking.”

“He’d figure it out eventually, but hopefully you’ll be free by then.” It didn’t sound like the best idea to dodge suspicion from Bruce, but it did sound better than trying to find answers online.

“He’d only figure it out if one of us slips up. There’s tons of shit in all those magic books, he doesn’t know what part we’re looking at. Think you can figure out when he’ll be gone without arousing suspicion?”

“Probably. If you want to hide this from Alfred too though that would be the harder part.”

“If Alfred catches on I’ll just have to make sure Bruce can’t find me until it’s fixed.” That seemed like way more work than just telling Bruce whatever it was. Hiding from him was a whole ordeal that didn’t tend to last long. And whatever the secret was, there was a decent chance that Bruce already knew and just hadn’t said anything. “But also, Alfred’s generally willing to let us get away with small things, like stealing books. If you do most of the talking he’ll probably turn a blind eye. Especially if you’re there, since that means we can’t be up to anything too bad.”

“Is all this trouble really worth just avoiding telling Bruce something? Like it’s not going to ruin your life is it?”

Jason was glaring at him again, even though Dick hadn’t thought those were particularly invasive questions. “It’s absolutely worth the trouble. Telling Bruce won’t ruin my life, but it might make it significantly harder. Depending on how he dealt with it.”

Dick hated how curious he was. He wasn’t going to take advantage of the spell and get Jason to tell him what his secret was, but god did he want to. “So Bruce told me a few days ago that he has a league meeting soon. Probably the best chance we have.”

“When is it?”

“Tomorrow. He’s leaving me in charge of making sure Gotham doesn’t burn down during the time he’s gone, I could ask Tim to cover me and he won’t ask too many quesitons.”

“Okay, so I’ll meet you here tomorrow night then. We’ll get the books and get out, hopefully before anyone even notices we’re there.”

“Still don’t think we’re going to manage to avoid Alfred, but yeah, sounds like a plan.”

Jason nodded and got to his feet. “Alright, see you tomorrow, Dickiebird.”

“You stay careful, Jay. Don’t go pissing off anymore witches with your dick.” He at least tried to hide his snicker behind his hand.

Jason just flipped him off on his way out.

* * *

Apparently Jason’s plan involved breaking into the library to avoid Alfred having to greet them at the door. Although it was hardly really breaking in when they both knew the codes to every entrance in the house.

“Bruce should really change those more often.” The library was luckily one of the rooms that Alfred liked to air out and opened the windows for often. It was barely any work in retrospect.

“He wants all of you to be able to come in,” Jason shrugged. Dick didn’t miss the ‘you’ instead of ‘us’, but that was an argument they’d already had before. “Let’s start gathering books,” he said before Dick could answer him, starting to look over the closest shelf for anything that looked to be about magic.

Dick tried to grab as many magic books that didn’t look like stage magic as he could, which was more than he really thought they’d need. It was going to be a struggle leaving with them, which was of course, when they heard someone clear their throat by the door.

Both of their heads snapped up to see Bruce standing there. “Well… I think it’s time to go, Dick,” Jason said after a second of silence.

“Yup, definitely time to go. Bye Bruce!” They didn’t even manage to make it to the window. Bruce stared them down as he blocked their path to freedom.

“You gonna move or do I have to go out the front door this time?” Jason challenged, staring him down in return like he didn’t have a truth spell to worry about exposing.

“Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing with half my collection of books on magic stuffed in duffle bags first.”

“Borrowing them,” Jason answered simply. “Keep looking like that, B, and someone might think you’re not happy to see me and Dick working together on something.”

Bruce, in typical Bruce form, wasn’t the least bit distracted from his suspicions. “For?”

Dick shot his hand over Jason’s mouth, he’d kill him for that later, but this was for Jason’s good now. And for Bruce, because Dick did remember that Jason had been very able to threaten to break Bruce’s jaw and possibly his hands if he found out. Jason still had to answer with the spell, but Dick’s hand muffled it enough that his answer was unintelligible. “Oh, y’know, thought we’d study up a bit. No big deal.”

Bruce looked between the two of them, not looking the slightest bit impressed. “Truth spell.” He always hated how smart Bruce was, and he was definitely having to hold Jason back now to keep him from getting to Bruce.

“Dick, let go,” Jason demanded when Dick had to remove his hand from Jason’s mouth and move to wrap it around his middle to keep him from lunging at Bruce.

“You can’t break his jaw just because you don’t want to tell him things!”

“Well not now that you fucking told him that’s what I would do!” That didn’t seem to deter his attempts to get out of Dick’s grip though.

“The manor is a no fight zone, Alfred’s rules!”

“Dick’s right, it is Alfred’s rules.” Bruce looked like he was amused by this, which was just wrong. Dick might just punch him too.  

“No one else listens to that rule,” Jason protested. “And I am completely willing to break that rule if you start asking me shit I don’t want to tell you about.”

“Really?” Dick didn’t like that look and tone from Bruce, “And is there anything in particular you don’t want to tell me?” Dick was going to punch Bruce, but maybe this was the best chance for Jason to break the spell. He almost lost his grip on Jason and just barely was able to drag him back a few steps before he could get his hand near Bruce’s throat. 

Jason was pretty good at talking around things though, and managed to dodge that question while still answering truthfully. “In particular, no. In general, yes. I prefer it when everyone minds their own fucking business. Especially you.” Although that truth definitely outed Jason for allowing Dick to believe that Bruce was the person he wanted to tell his secret to the least when that wouldn’t seem to be the case or Jason would have had to give that up.  

“You don’t?” Dick asked incredulously. If it wasn’t Bruce he didn’t want to know something, then who?

He stopped struggling, but Dick didn’t let up his grip, sure that Jason was just waiting for him to let his guard down. “No. You’re the one who assumed that. I just didn’t correct you.”

“Of course,” Dick sighed. “Bruce just made the most sense though.” Dick didn’t want to ask who it was because he’d told Jason he wouldn’t ask about it, but now he was just more curious.

“So Jason can break the curse by telling a specific person a specific thing,” Bruce mused, “And given how many books you both have, Jason doesn’t like that option.”

Jason was glaring at Bruce like he could drill a hole through his head with his eyes alone.

“And he hasn’t told you what and who it is,” Bruce kept going, completely unfazed.

“Shut the fuck up, Bruce,” Jason’s voice was low and dangerous, but that had never seemed to affect any of the members of the Bats despite what it did to criminals around Gotham.

“From that, I’m going to assume that-”

“Bruce!” Dick cut him off. He should know better than to prod into personal secrets. He didn’t always respect it, now being a prime example, but he should still know better. Especially since Jason had a history of attempting to kill Bruce when they were on their worst terms.

“Alright,” Bruce relented, “But you know how to break it, and if what I’m assuming is right, the repercussions aren’t going to be as bad as you think they are.”

“That’s my own business,” Jason still looked ready to snap and try and attack Bruce again at any moment.

“It is, whether it’s worth it to keep in or not. One last question,” and Bruce received equal glares from both Jason and Dick, “What’s Black Mask’s next attack?”

This time Jason just rolled his eyes, a little of the tension in his shoulders fading. “Weapons shipment moving through Gotham next week. Lots of high grade shit.”

Bruce nodded. “If you’re going to study up on magic, try not to lose any of the books. Some are very rare. And despite whatever predicament you’re both working on, I still need Nightwing to cover me tonight in the city.” Jason gave Dick an annoyed look as best he could while still being restrained, for bringing them here early.

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll give them back to Dick or the Replacement when I’m done with them,” Jason answered, looking back at Bruce, and finally getting out of Dick’s grasp and storming towards the door to the library, apparently giving up on the window.

“See you, Bruce,” Dick called out as he chased after Jason. Jason and Bruce clashing was never fun, especially when he dealt with the aftermath, which he usually did but more often on Bruce’s side since Jason had the fun habit of disappearing.

Now though, instead of disappearing, Jason paused at the door and turned to face Bruce, leaning in the doorway with an air of casualness his eyes didn’t carry. “Oh, and Bruce?” Bruce only quirked an eyebrow in askance. “I didn’t push Felipe Garzonas. I just didn’t catch him.” And then he turned and walked out.

Dick remembered that one. Jason insisted he hadn’t pushed the guy, although he hadn’t helped his case telling them that “the rapist fucker would have deserved it if I had”. Bruce had tried to act like he believed Jason, keeping him on as Robin was proof enough of that. He’d so clearly wanted to believe Jason’s side of the story, that Garzonas had just been caught off guard when Jason burst in and fell. But Dick never got the feeling that he did believe Jason, and clearly Jason hadn’t either.

Honestly, Dick wasn’t sure if he had believed Jason at the time either. The kid was reckless and violent, but Dick’s opinion had never seemed to matter much to Jason, and Jason had never asked Dick for his opinion on the matter. Bruce’s opinion, on the other hand, did matter to Jason, so Bruce not believing him, when Jason was apparently telling the truth, even though Bruce never would have approved of not catching him if Jason was able to, had probably just furthered the wedge that had been growing between them that contributed to Jason not asking for help when he thought he’d found his mother and ended up being caught by the Joker.

Jason may not have stayed long enough to catch Bruce’s reaction, but Dick definitely did and he had never seen such pure and open shock on Bruce before he managed to school his features again. Typical. Dick ran to catch up to Jason and he could kind of already tell, but he still had to ask. “You okay?”

“No, obviously not. You fucking held me back, jackass. I’m pissed as hell,” Jason answered, not slowing his steps even a little for Dick.

“You aiming a punch at Bruce would’ve only resulted in a messed up library.”

“It might have kept him from pushing for answers.”

“He’s Bruce, you know he wouldn’t.”

“Hard to ask questions with a broken jaw or missing teeth. But no, the mother fucker just had to push until he figured it out,” Jason’s fists were clenched in a white knuckle grip like he was still ready to hit something.

Dick honestly hated that Bruce figured it out with so few hints while Dick was still left in the dark about it and he’d been with Jason since the day before. Then again, Dick was actively trying not to push Jason’s boundaries. “Whatever it is, he wouldn’t tell whoever it is you don’t want to know whatever it is you don’t want them to know. He can be bad, but not that bad. And given his lack of reaction, I don’t think he’s going to do anything about it.”

“Because he’d already figured it out before tonight. Fucking bastard.”

“He still won’t do anything about it, I don’t think, or he would’ve by now. I know it bugs you that he knows, but it’s just who he is. He knows things about everyone, some things, those people don’t even know about themselves.”

“I’m aware of how he treats people’s personal information. I was Robin for a good minute too.” They’d made it out of the manor and out to where they’d parked the car Jason had picked him up in, Jason dropping his bag of books in the backseat before getting into the drivers side.

“Then you know he’ll keep it to himself.” Dick got into the passenger seat, giving him his most comforting look.

“No, I’m not sure about that,” Jason answered, speeding his way back towards Gotham. “But I’m a little less worried about it after today.”

“If he ever does, I’ll help you kick his ass instead of holding you back.”

“He almost said it in front of you. He only didn’t because you told him to stop,” Jason reminded him.

“I’ll help you kick his ass,” Dick repeated.

“I wouldn’t let you help me kick his ass.”

“Well I’m still offering.”

“I’m standing by what I just said.”

“Suit yourself.” Dick was still tempted to ask Jason what it was he was keeping, and more importantly to himself, from who? Because if it wasn’t Bruce but had to be personal enough to Jason then it was still likely one of the bats. Maybe Tim. Maybe it was just himself, and Jason’s only peace has been that Dick hasn’t outright asked. Dick wanted to ask, but Jason was still angry and now was not the best time, especially since asking was just going to make him more angry. And Dick, for one, didn’t particularly fancy getting into a car wreck because Jason was too pissed to drive.

“You’re staring,” Jason muttered after a few minutes, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I can’t say I’m not curious, but you probably already knew that. Besides that, I guess I’m a little worried about how you’re doing.”

“You already asked me how I was doing. When we were leaving. You asked if I was okay,” Jason reminded him. “Which by the way, let's maybe avoid open ended questions like that while I’m under a truth spell.”

“I asked you how you were doing and you said bad, which is reason to be worried. Sometimes I feel like you choose to forget that I do care about you and your well being.”

“I don’t forget.” Jason glanced at him, and Dick wasn’t sure what to make of his expression before he focused on the road again, which he was definitely speeding on, not bothering to address the first thing Dick said.

“Good, because I do care,” Dick gave one of Jason’s clenched fists, the one wrapped around the gear shift, a small squeeze, and Jason’s eyes shot over to him.

“You making a move on me, Grayson?” Jason teased, clearly trying to relax so Dick wouldn’t worry about him.

“Gotta do it now before someone comes along to snatch you up. You know you’ve always been such a catch, Jay.” He was teasing, but that didn’t mean his words weren’t true.

“Can’t be too much of a catch if my last hookup resulted in her being so mad at me she truth spelled me.”

“She’s just upset that she couldn’t keep you after getting a chance.”

Jason shrugged. “She didn’t have a chance. It was just a hookup.”

“Such a heartbreaker, makes you more of a catch in some ways.”

“In what way is being a heartbreaker ever considered a catch? That’s supposed to be a bad thing.”

“Some people like the hard to get ones, and you’re definitely that.”

Jason just shrugged again this time. Apparently not having an answer. Or at least not one he could give in his current condition.

“But since I’m in the business of snatching you up, I should probably make sure you even like guys.” Jason had never really given any indication that he was anything but straight after all, but Dick was still sure to not phrase it as a question just in case.

“I hookup with whoever is hot enough, regardless of what’s between their legs. You’re lucky my sexuality isn’t really secret, or I’d probably be mad at you for bringing that up while I can’t lie about it though.”

“I’m trying really hard not to ask anything you wouldn’t want me to know. I know you’re already mad that you’re compelled to tell me the truth.”

“How about you just stop phrasing things as questions at all so I can decide if I want to tell you things instead of you deciding for me what counts as things I wouldn’t want you to know,” Jason countered.

“I’m not doing it on purpose, I swear.”

“I know,” he sighed. “But it’s still not great to be forced to tell someone anything, even if it isn’t something big.” Which did make sense. While Jason was a rather private person, it wasn’t like he lied a lot. He just didn’t say things most of the time. He avoided questions he didn’t want to answer, or answered around them, and that was when you could even find him to ask. Unless he was being asked about his well being, Jason was usually not very likely to lie so much as tell people to fuck off or mind their own business. In fact, he had a nasty habit of weaponizing the truth to hit people where it hurt the most. Like that last truth bomb he’d dropped on Bruce at the manor.

“We’ll break the spell. You’re not going to be stuck like this for long.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I said it before, we always find a way. We’ll break the spell.”

“Maybe. I’m doubting it will be from these books though. B was still talking about me knowing how to break it. Which means these probably don’t have anything to counter it with.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t try with the books still.”

“Oh, we will. On the off chance. I just don’t think we’re likely to find something.”

“Well, where do you want to go from there if we don’t find something.”

“Zatanna I guess; since Bruce already knows now.”

“Which means you’ll be unspelled in no time.”

Jason didn’t take them back to Dick’s place this time. He took them to an unfamiliar apartment building, which Dick assumed was one of his safehouses that would be abandoned now that Dick knew about it. “There’s real food here, and I didn’t feel like toaster waffles again.”

“Toaster waffles are real food. I have them all the time.” He’d recently learned that they made great bread for bacon sandwiches.

“You eating them all the time doesn’t make them real food,” Jason said as he grabbed the bag of books from the back seat and led the way inside.

“Well, oh smart one, show me what you think real food is.”

“Not packed full of preservatives and I don’t have to read an ingredients list full of unpronounceable names to get the gist of what’s in it.”

“Not all of us can cook,” Dick huffed.

“You don’t have to cook an apple or some carrots or something like that so that you have some healthy food in your place you can eat.”

“A vegetable? In my home? Atrocious.” Dick dramatically gasped.

“Well we’re having some tonight, so you’re gonna have to deal.”

“Atrocious,” Dick chuckled, hurrying after him.

Jason put him to work reading while he made food. He didn’t find anything by the time Jason was done with stir fry and salad, but they still had several books to look through.

“I’m starting to think that truth spells aren’t common enough to put in books.”

“No way. Bruce is too paranoid not to have info on something that could make him spill his secrets.”

“He has Zatanna, and if he’s desperate enough he’d probably hunt down Constantine.”

Jason side eyed him while handing him a plate. “Bruce doesn’t trust other people that much. He’d have his own info.”

“Yes, but I’ve seen him put more trust in Zatanna than he would most other people. It’s actually kinda weird.”

“Which makes her a fine backup resource, but we’re still talking about the same guy who has fail safes for all of his closest friends turning evil.”

“Yeah,” Dick sighed, accepting the plate with a small thanks, “I guess it’s gotta be in one of the books I haven’t flipped through.”

“Maybe.” Jason didn’t look convinced, but picked up a book to scan while they ate. “Kori and Roy haven’t found anything useful either,” he added with a sigh.

Dick hadn’t realized that he’d told Roy and Kori at all, but he had mentioned that he lived with them so it was probably inevitable that they’d find out. “We’ll find a way,” Dick tried to reassure him.

“Everything seems to suggest that because I have a way I can’t use another one,” he said, running a frustrated hand through his hair and then resting his head on the table, just barely pushing his plate out of the way in time to not have his face collide with it.

And, well, Dick had been thinking about it since they’d the left the manor, so he might as well confirm his suspicions. “You know you can tell me anything. I won’t judge no matter what it is and it won’t change how I think about you.”

Jason turned his head to look at him with an eyebrow raised. “Why would I do that?”

“I’ve been trying to figure out who it could be that you need to break the spell after we left the manor and it made the most sense to me that it would be a bat. Probably me or Tim. You have other people in your life too, I’m not ruling out that it could be Roy or Kori, or someone I don’t know, but if it happens to be me, I want you to know that I’m not going to make your life harder with whatever it is you have to tell.”

“Why would I work with you on this if it was you? That puts me in a dangerous position,” Jason said, finally lifting his head off the table and pulling his plate closer to start eating. It was a pretty good denial. But he hadn’t actually said it wasn’t Dick.

“Only a risk if I’m awful enough to ask you what it is.”

“That’s a risk no matter who I have to tell. I’m not interested in having my business spread around even to people who aren’t the one I want to hear it the least.”

“I guess, but on the off chance it’s still me, you can tell me.”

“Even if it were, why would I suddenly be down to tell you shit when I’ve been clear about wanting to find another way?”

Dick shrugged, “You said it was something that would make your life harder. I’m telling you I wouldn’t let that happen if it’s me.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t try to.”

“I wouldn’t let it happen,” Dick repeated.

“Can’t control everything, Dickiebird, but it’s nice of you to say even if you aren’t the one under a truth spell.”

“I’m here to help however I can.”

“Then text Zatanna and find out what she knows,” Jason answered, apparently tired of this line of conversation.

“Alright, boss,” Dick rolled his eyes as he whipped out his phone.

* * *

They didn’t find anything in the books, and Zatanna said that if he was given an out that was the only way to break it.

So apparently it would have been easier if Jason had gotten hit with a normal truth spell with no loopholes.

And now Jason was laid out on the couch with a book opened on top of his face, in what seemed to be a state of defeat.

Even Dick was at a loss of what to do, but he didn’t like seeing Jason like this. “Maybe we could hunt down the witch?”

“Already did that. She laughed at me, first of all. And when I threatened her with a gun, she threatened me with more spells she knew of,” he mumbled into the book.

Dick moved to sit on one of the couch cushions Jason was currently draped over and pulled the book off his face. “We can still try to figure out something?”

Jason gave him an annoyed look, but let him take the book. “What are we going to figure out that Zatanna couldn’t and that we couldn’t find in Bruce’s books?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t like seeing you this defeated. It’s not like you.”

“Well this isn’t exactly a typical problem.”

“We always have non-typical problems.” It was probably something to do with the long hours spent with his nose in books that had him forgetting Jason’s usual boundaries, because Dick found himself reaching up to brush some stray hairs out of Jason’s face, getting a wide eyed look in return.

“What are you doing?”

A good question, Dick sure would’ve liked to know the answer too. “Uh, you had hair in your face?”

“I’m aware now,” Jason answered incredulously. “Why were you touching it?”

“Your eyes look better without hair in them?” Well they did.

Jason just continued to stare at him like he was spouting nonsense.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

And Jason did as his eyes narrowed and he sat up, putting some distance between them. The confusion was actually probably better, because now he looked like he’d come to a conclusion, and it wasn’t a good one. “...why were you doing that?”

“The hair thing or the comforting? Because I only have an actual explanation for one of those.” He couldn’t just tell Jason that he touched his hair and face because Dick thought he was pretty. Well he could, but he wouldn’t. Jason wasn’t likely to respond well after all.

“And what’s your explanation?”

“I was comforting you because I don’t like seeing you down; it’s pretty common for me to do with people I care about.”

Jason didn’t look swayed in the slightest, if anything he looked more suspicious.

“Stop looking at me like that. You should know I care about you. I just spent two days flipping through old magic books with you.”

“And this sudden touching and attempted comforting has nothing to do with you trying to lull me into telling you, Mr. ‘You know you can tell me anything, right’?”

“Lull you?” It took him a good minute for it to finally click. “It is me. And you think I know what it is you want to tell me. It’s flattering that you think I managed to figure it out with nothing to go on, but I think it should be obvious by now that I’m still in the dark.”

Or maybe it wasn’t that obvious to Jason, because he scoffed and shook his head. “Nothing to go on? You’re kidding, right? B almost spelled it out?”

Had he? Definitely not to Dick. “Jay, I have no idea what it is you’re hiding. I swear.”

Jason’s eyes searched his face, and he eventually sighed. “It doesn’t really matter either way. Since it’s not looking like I can get out of this without confessing.”

“I mean, with how stubborn you are, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you decided to just live on telling half truths or something.”

“I can only get away with that for so long when I know so many dangerous secrets. I have to be able to lie if someone finds out about this and starts asking me things, like your identity for example. I can’t drag it out on the off chance Zatanna and Bruce missed something.”

“So…?”

Jason frowned deeply, looking down at his hands instead of at Dick. He opened his mouth a few times like he was going to say something, but would close it again after a few seconds when no words would come out. “Fuck,” he eventually muttered, running a frustrated hand through his hair and getting up to start pacing.

“Jay? Are you okay?”

“No. Stop asking me that,” he muttered, shooting an annoyed look Dick’s way.

“Look Jay,” Dick sighed, “I know it’s a risk; you don’t have to tell me right now. You can take some time until you’re ready.”

“No. I was never planning to be ready that’s the whole problem. You were never supposed to hear it.” He finally looked squarely at Dick, stopping his pacing. “Just ask me. Let the spell do the work for me.”

Dick almost jumped at the permission, because he was so god damn curious, but he was better than that. “You’re absolutely sure?”

“No. But what the fuck else am I supposed to do?”

“Well then,” and it felt weird not seeing Jason’s eyes for this so he stood to take a few steps closer to him, “What is it that you need to tell me?”

Jason’s eyes met his and he looked like he was bracing himself before the words finally forced their way out of his throat. “I’m in love with you.” He barely whispered it, but from so close there was no mistaking what he’d just said.

Dick released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He knew what he’d just heard, but it was almost too hard to believe. Jason had said it under a truth spell so it couldn’t have been anything but the truth.It just seemed too good to be true though. “You are ?” He wasn’t sure when his hand had reached up to lay itself on Jason’s shoulder, but that was where it was now.

“I’m not repeating myself, Dickiebird. It took a truth spell to get me to say it one time.” He shrugged Dick’s hand off of him. “You don’t have to say anything; my ego is good without the rejection. I’ll just… I should go home. Get back to my team and all.”

“No way.” Dick grabbed his hand this time, because Jason was not running away with the wrong idea. “You’re not going anywhere if you think you’re getting anything but reciprocated feelings.”

“Dick, c’mon, it’s fine. I know you said you wouldn’t let it change anything, but it’s fine. You don’t have to do this.”

“Don’t have to do what? Act on the feelings I’ve had for you for months? And I lied, this does change things, because now you can’t just disappear like you always do. I’m not letting you.” It was selfish, but Dick had to believe this was better than pretending Jason hadn’t said anything.

“What do you want from me?” He said it aggressively, clearly trying to push Dick away, but from where they were standing he could see in Jason’s eyes that it was a real question, even if he was trying to cover that up.

“Look at me and tell me if I’m lying,” Dick gently cupped Jason’s cheek, “I’m in love with you too.”

Jason stared at him, apparently at a loss for words, before moving his hand to tangle in Dick’s hair and pull him forward into a kiss. It was soft and unexpectedly shy, and Dick just wanted to melt into it.

When they broke apart, Dick rested his forehead against Jason’s. Both taking in the silence and how their arms had managed to find their way around each other.

Dick finally broke the silence with a sigh. “I was definitely wrong. Things do have to change between us, because that needs to happen more.”

Jason shoved him halfheartedly. “That was a terrible opening sentence, you jackass.”

Dick snickered as he pulled Jason back to him. “Love you too,” and he happily kissed him again.


End file.
